Kildin Sámi, also spelt as Kildin Saami is a Sámi language spoken on the Kola Peninsula of northwestern Russia by the Kildin Sámi, who have historically inhabited the peninsula.
The Sámi languages closest to Kildin are Ter Sámi and Akkala Sámi, in Soviet tradition sometimes considered to be dialects of Kildin Sámi. From a strictly geographical point of view, only Kildin and Ter, spoken on the Peninsula, could be regarded as Kola Sámi. It is the largest of the Eastern Sámi languages by number of speakers. However, unlike its close relatives Skolt Sámi and Inari Sámi, Kildin Sámi is only used actively by very few people.
Geographic distribution
Originally, Kildin Sámi was spoken in clustered areas of the mainland and coastal parts of the Kola Peninsula. Nowadays, Kildin Sámi speakers can be found in rural and urban areas, including the administrative center of the oblast. The area of Lovozero has the highest concentration of speakers. Other Kildin Sámi speakers are scattered throughout the villages and small towns of the Peninsula: Revda, Kola, Loparskaya, Teriberka, but can also be found in larger more sizable towns of Murmansk Oblast such as Olenegorsk and Apatity. Lovozero is known as the main place where the language is still spoken by 700–800 ethnic Sámi amongst a total village population of approximately 3,000. However, today the Saami are but a minority in Lovozero: the large majority of the population consists of Russians and Izhma Komi. The language has only about 100 active and perhaps 600 passive speakers. As a result of relocation, migration, and forced movement of the group, the community has really fragmented and become divided over other areas in Murmansk Region, thus leading to an inability for the revival and sustenance of their language, traditions, customs, and beliefs.
History
Early period The Kildin Sámi (Kola Sámi) first came into contact and had more subsequent meetings with the Russians in the 12th century, when Pomor traders from the Republic of Novgorod landed on the southern shores of the Kola Peninsula. The Russians themselves inhabited and set up shelters in the Kola and the Ter Coast as it was known then during the 13th–14th centuries. During the 15th and 16th centuries, Russians started heavily occupying and building their own communities in northern Karelia and increased exposure between the Kildin Sámi and Russians naturally blossomed as a result. In the 19th century, Kola Sámi were organized and advocated for themselves through "tight-knit familial communities" where they worked in pastures, lived by fishing, and survived through hunting all in a concrete set around defined territory with extended family. During this time, the community shared in spiritual customs and held similar ideologies on their language and community.
In the Russian Empire, the Kildin Sámi had no authority, rights or privileges, or liberties of autonomy and independence to control their affairs and to educate and teach their language through schools. After the 1917 Revolution which overthrew the tsarist regime of Nicholas II and led to the rise of the Bolsheviks, party systems, and emphasis towards a village-centered, peasant-centered, society, the Soviet state implemented laws or statutes that encouraged the development and protection of Sámi language and Sámi culture.
Stalinist era During the 1930s, with an orientation toward Russian nationalism ("Russification") and Russian identity that came about more dramatically with Joseph Stalin's rise to power and his oppressive tactics, Kola Sámi languages and culture came under intense pressure. His oppressive agricultural, economic, and cultural policies also led to the arrest of those who resisted collectivization, including many who lived in the Kola tundras. As Russia entered World War II, Kildin Sámi youth were drafted to serve in the Red Army, which lessened hardships and prejudices they faced for a temporary period. Although the repression ended after the death of Stalin in 1953, Russification policies continued and the work with the Sámi languages started again only in the beginning of the 1980s when new teaching materials and dictionaries were published.
Current state As social and cultural emphasis has been put on the writing and speaking of the various languages that constitute Russia, Kildin Sámi has now become a critically endangered language. Russian is prominently spoken in Kildin Sámi communities so much so that the original language is hardly ever heard of or only spoken privately amongst those who still know how to do so within an insular community. The few Kildin Sámi who speak and understand their language proficiently can also speak various dialectical tongues that constitute ethnic Russia. Because the language has eroded so rapidly over the centuries, it is more widely spoken amongst or between older elders who were taught and educated between themselves and thus retained the spoken language and hardly spoken by children. In Lovozero, Kildin Sámi was taught as an elective subject for first through fourth graders ; however, beginning in the 2014–15 school year, Kildin Sámi language instruction was folded into a broader class on Sámi history, culture, and folklore. The reasons for the loss and decline in speakership is as follows: a lack of education, dispersion of the Sámi, no generational transmission of traditional Sámi trades and ways of life, and not ever needing to speak or not regularly speaking the language have both caused speakership to take a hit over the years. Kildin Sámi is written using an official Cyrillic script.
Phonology Below is one analysis of the consonants in Kildin Sámi as given by The Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages:
+ Consonant phonemes in Kildin Saami Labial Alveolar (Pre)-palatal Velarplainpal.plainpal.plainpal.plainpal. Nasal voiceless voiced Stop preaspirated voiceless voiced Affricate preaspirated voiceless voiced Fricative voiceless voiced Trill voiceless voiced Approximant voiceless voiced Lateral voiceless voiced
In some dialects preaspiration is realized as a preceding for palatalized phonemes and for non-palatalized phonemes. () is realized as and () is realized as .
Geminates occur in all consonants, with the exception of preaspirated consonants, voiced alveolar and prepalatal fricatives and affricates (bold).
The Oxford Guide to the Uralic Languages gives the following inventory of monophthongs:
+ Monophthongs in Kildin Sámi Front Central Back Close Mid Open
Rimma Kuruch's dictionary presents a slightly different set of monophthongs:
+ Monophthongs in Kildin Sámi Front Central Back Close Mid Open ~
Writing system
Kildin Sámi has been written in an extended version of Cyrillic since the 1980s. The alphabet has three variants with some minor differences among certain letters, mostly in Ҋ vs. Ј and ʼ (apostrophe) vs. Һ. The Sammallahti/Khvorostukhina dictionary (1991) uses Ҋ and ʼ (apostrophe); Antonova et al. (1985) uses Ј and Һ; a third orthographic variant, used by Kert (1986), has neither of these letters.
Note that the letters Ӓ, Ҋ/Ј, Һ/ʼ (apostrophe), Ӆ, Ӎ, Ӊ, Ӈ, Ҏ, Ъ, Ь, Ҍ and Ӭ do not occur in the word-initial position, either because the letters mark features of preceding consonants or the sounds they represent do not occur word initially. Therefore these letters do not normally occur in uppercase, except for all caps text.
The letter Щ occurs only in Russian loanwords.
А а Ӓ ӓ Б б В в Г г Д д Е е Ё ё Ж ж З з Һ һ ʼ or or И и Й й Ҋ ҋ Ј ј К к Л л Ӆ ӆ М м Ӎ ӎ Н н Ӊ ӊ or or /j̊/ /l̥/ Ӈ ӈ О о П п Р р Ҏ ҏ С с Т т У у Ф ф Х х Ц ц Ч ч Ш ш Щ щ Ъ ъ Ы ы Ь ь Ҍ ҍ Э э Ӭ ӭ Ю ю Я я or or
The orthographic principles are more or less similar to Russian, but note the following special features.
Palatalization Similar to Russian, palatalization of a consonant in Kildin Sámi is marked by the letter Ь or one of the vowel letters Е, Ё, И, Ю, and Я following the consonant. Palatalized Д, Т, Н, however, are marked by ҍ or one of the vowel letters Ӓ and Ӭ. The consonant letter Н before Ь or one of the vowel letters Е, Ё, И, Ю, and Я does not represent palatalization but the palatal nasal .
Long vowels Long vowels are marked with a macron over the vowel letter (and above the diaeresis in the cases of Ё).
Preaspiration The letter Һ occurs before the letters П, Т, К, Ц and Ч, and marks (historical) preaspiration. The actual pronunciation varies between true preaspiration and the fricative sounds and .
Voiceless sonorants Voiceless sonorants are represented by the letters Ҋ/Ј, Ӆ, Ӎ, Ӊ, and Ҏ.
Velar nasal The velar nasal is written as Ӈ.
Morphophonology Kildin Sámi exhibits a few morphophonological processes that are widespread throughout declension and conjugation paradigms. The first is consonant gradation, which is a phenomenon of alternations based on consonant length. This can be illustrated through some of the nonpast forms of the verb рāбпэ 'to dig'. The verb features the geminate consonant бп, which becomes weakened/shortened (quantitative gradation) to б in the first-person singular form рāба '[I] dig', but which is retained in the third-person singular form рāбп '[(S)he/it digs.' A more complete paradigm is below: +рāбпэ 'to dig'NonpastPastSGPLSGPL1рāб-арāбп-эпьроабп-ерāб-эмь2рāб-акрāбп-бэдтӭроабп-екьрāб-этҍ3рāбп-Øрāбп-эврāб-эроабп-энҍ Consonant gradation can also be qualitative, meaning that there is a consonantal alternation based on a feature like voicing for instance, as is the case with the verb тӯссэ 'to illuminate'. The nonpast first-person singular form тӯза '[I] illuminate' comprises the alternation сс -> з, where not only is there a shortening of the geminate consonant but also a change from unvoiced to voiced. +тӯссэ 'to illuminate'NonpastPastSGPLSGPL1тӯз-атӯсс-эпьтӯсс-етӯз-эмь2тӯз-актӯсс-бэдтӭтӯсс-екьтӯз-етҍ3туэсс-Øтӯсс-эвтӯз-этӯсс-енҍ Another morphophonological process is apophony, which manifests through a wide array of vowel alternations. In the word эххканкуэррьв 'windowsill', the vowel cluster уэ becomes у in certain declensions and уа in others: +эххканкуэррьв 'windowsill'SGPLNOMэххканкуэррьвэххканкуэрьвACCэххканкуэрьвэххканку(э)рьв-эGENэххканкуэрьвэххканку(э)рьв-этҍILLэххканкуаррв-аэххканку(э)рьв-этҍLOCэххканкуэрьв-эсьтэххканку(э)рьв-энҍCOMэххканку(э)рьв-энҍэххканку(э)рьв-эгуэймABEэххканкуэрьв-хаэххканку(э)рьв-эха
Grammar
Nouns
Nouns in Kildin Sámi decline across 9 cases and two numbers, with the essive and partitive cases exceptionally not having distinct forms for number. Below is the declension paradigm for the word мӯрр 'tree.' Nouns fall under several different declension classes. +CaseSingularPluralNominativeмӯррмӯрAccusativeмӯрмӯрэGenitiveмӯрмӯрэтҍIllativeмӯрремӯрэтҍLocativeмӯрэсьтмӯрэнҍComitativeмӯрэнҍмӯрэгуэймAbessiveмӯрхамӯрэхаPartitiveмӯррэEssiveмӯррэнҍ
Possessive suffixes Source:
In Kildin Sámi, there is a series of suffixes that serve to encode relationships of possession. The suffixes can simultaneously carry information about the possessor (person and number) and the number of possessees (1 or 2+). The suffixes further decline. Possessive suffixes are no longer productive and are mainly preserved in kinship terms such as я̄нна(м) 'my mother'. PossessorPossessed (one or more)CaseNOMACCGENILLLOCCOMABEESS1SG1 -а(м) -ан -ан -(ъе)сан -сан -Эсан -хэнан -анха -ъян2+ -Эдан -ъедан -Эсан -ангуйм -Эдангуйм -ъяхтэнан -Эданха -Эдан1PL1 -Эдан -ъедан2+ -Эдан -ъедан2SG1 -ат -(ъе)сант -сант -Эсант -хэнант -антха -ъянт2+ -ант -Эдант -ъедант -Эсант -анткуйм -Эданткуйм -ъяхтэнант -Эдантха -ъедант2PL1 -Эдант -ъяхтэнант -ъедантха2+ -Эдант3SG1 -Эсь -ъесь -Эсан -Энэсь -хэнэсь -Эсьха -ъясь2+ -Эдэсь -ъедас -Эсэсьт -Эсьуйм -Энэськуйм -ъяхтэнэсь -Эдэсьха -ъедэсь3PL1 -Эдэсь -Эсэсь -ъяхтэнэсь -ъедэсьха2+
Pronouns Personal pronouns decline as other nouns do and encode number (singular or plural). Third-person pronouns do not make any grammatical gender distinctions.